I’ll give a shout-out to Emosson dam high above Le Chatelard, very close to the French border.
Situated at an elevation of 1930 m and holding back the second-largest reservoir in Switzerland, Emosson was originally built to supply electric power for the Swiss railway system. Although one can drive up to the dam, the more fun way to go is by a funicular-train-funicular system that lifts you from the valley floor up to the lake. The first funicular, about 2 km long, has a maximum gradient of 87% and is billed as the world’s steepest. I believe it.
When you get to the top of that, you board a little narrow gauge train (originally built to support the dam’s construction) which takes you to the base of the dam. There you board a second funicular that takes you to the top. The reward is some fairly spectacular viewing, and maybe an overflight by Swiss jet fighters on maneuvers.
The funicular was down for renovations but was supposed to be put back into service last year.
This is probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but the Tinguely sculpture at the Zurichhorn (in Zurich) just blew my mind the first time I saw it. I was spending 6 months in the city and my wife and I were pushing our daughter in a stroller and came on this thing. We happened on it when it was working (which in those days was only twice a day for 15 minutes). According to this web site in German): Heureka (Plastik) – Wikipedia it is called Heureka (I never knew that, although I have watched it many times) and now operates at 11AM, 3PM, and 7PM but only for 8 minutes at a time.
I have taken the walk along the ridge of the Utliberg a number of times. You take a train from Bahnhof (rail station) Selnau then walk along the ridge to Felsenegg, where you take a suspended cable car to the Sihltal from which you take a train back to the city. You can buy one round trip ticket that covers both trains and the cable car. The walk included a scale model of the solar system that was hundreds of meters long. There were two copies of Pluto, one at perhelion before Neptune and the other at aphelion long after Neptune. I wonder if they removed them after Pluto’s demotion.
There was also a fascinating exhibit of old architecture, a kind of old town exhibit also showing ways of life. I think it was somewhere in the Canton of Bern, but I don’t recall the name and I could not find it by googling.
The place I was talking about is called Ballenberg. See Ballenberg - Wikipedia.
Even though it’s touristy, go to Lucerne. One of my favorite places I’ve ever visited. They have a medieval bridge, medieval walls and towers, a casino, a large lake with a beach, and Mt. Pilatus overlooks it all. There’s also hiking and boating. ETA: Oh, and the transport museum.
Oh yeah - definitely Ballenberg! It’s worth spending a day there just walking around the houses and old farm buildings; it’s a giant open-air museum.
I stayed a night in a farm at the difficult end of the Lauterbrunnen Valley at Obersteinberg. The food wasn’t bad and the beds were nice and soft. Not exactly a unique experience, but it certainly wasn’t crowded with tourists or anything. Maybe there were a dozen guests aside from myself.
And I helped two old men chase a bird out of a coffee shop in Wengen, but I don’t think you can book tickets for that.